The cup system

Participating in one of the Hattrick cups is an exciting challenge for every manager, as well as a good way to gain experience for your players and to earn extra cash for your club. The Hattrick cup system has been designed to offer a meaningful experience for teams at every level. It has also been designed to ensure that every team is guaranteed at least three cup games every season.

Every team in Division 6 and above will get to play in the National Cup. If eliminated early from the National Cup, the team will instead get to participate in a lower tier cup.
If your league has more than six divisions, there will also be a Divisional Cup for each division below Division 6. Teams in these divisions (Division 7 and below) will play in their respective Divisional Cup instead of in the National Cup.

These Divisional Cups, like the National Cup, have their own lower tier cups for teams that get knocked out early.

Cup fixtures

Cup matches are always played in the middle of the week. The first round of the National and Divisional Cups always takes place a few days before your first league match of the season. The Challenger Cups consists of teams that have been eliminated from either the National or Divisional Cup, and for this reason the first Challenger Cup starts one week after the National Cup and Divisional Cup. There are separate Challenger Cups that corresponds with the National Cup and with each Divisional Cup.
Your first cup opponent and the cup you will play in is announced one week in advance. In coming rounds your next opponent and current cup will be announced shortly after all matches for the current cup round have ended.

Teams that enter a competition in a later round are always seeded to meet the teams that have entered the competition earlier. If teams entered the competition at the same time, the highest-ranked teams are always seeded to meet the lowest-ranked teams. (In practice this means that if you manage to stay in the National Cup until round 5 or 6, when you enter a Challenger Cup you will be seeded against a team that was eliminated from the National Cup in round 1 or 2, regardless of your regular Cup ranking).

Teams are first ranked by the division they will play in this season, then ranked within a particular division as follows:

1. Active relegated teams2. Active teams that neither relegated nor promoted3. Teams that promoted by their own strength4. Teams that promoted for "free" (replacing a relegated bot)5.Bots, in case of vacant spots

Teams within each group above are sorted according to the ranking at the end of the last season. The ranking stays the same for the duration of the cup.

The higher-ranked team will always play away until the last six rounds of the Cup, at which point all matches are played at neutral venues. All cup games not settled during normal time go to extra time. If they are not decided then, they go to a penalty kick shoot-out. For more information on how to select your penalty takers, see the chapter "Lineup: Experience and confusion".

Cup format

The most important cup in every league is the National Cup. This is open to every team in Division 6 and above that has a human manager. Only the very best teams will have a chance to win the National Cup, but any team that progresses far in this competition will be well rewarded.

However, if your team is eliminated early from the National Cup you will get a second chance. If you are eliminated in any of the first six rounds of the National Cup, you will instead gain a place in one of the three national Challenger Cups. Participating in the Challenger Cups will still be more attractive for your club than just playing friendlies, but rewards are still a lot lower than the National Cup. If you can, staying in the National Cup should always pay off.

The three Challenger Cups are originally the Emerald, Ruby, and Sapphire Cups, though they may have different names in some leagues. The Emerald Cup takes on any team that is eliminated from the National Cup in round 1 or 6. Teams eliminated in rounds 2 and 5 are moved to the Ruby Cup. And teams eliminated in rounds 3 and 4 are moved to the Sapphire Cup. The three cups run parallel to each other and to the National Cup, and one winner will be crowned in each one of them.

Teams that are eliminated in round one of the Emerald and Ruby Challenger Cups will gain a place in the Consolation Cup. This Cup does not give any prize money or other perks, but the winner still gets a trophy.

In leagues with more than six divisions Divisional Cups are organized for Division 7 and below. The Divisional Cups follow a similar pattern to the National Cup. They have one main cup, the three Challenger Cups - Emerald, Ruby, and Sapphire - and one Consolation Cup. The only difference is that the overall prize money is lower.

The size of the Cups is determined by the number of teams that are qualified for the cup and have human managers. The smallest possible Cup size that still makes room for all qualified human teams will be chosen. Once all human teams are in, the Cup will be filled up with bot teams to complete the starting field.

1. The amount of qualified teams managed by humans is counted2. The smallest cup size that fits all the teams managed by humans is chosen3. The Cup is then filled out by the human teams first4. Regular bots from the league system are used next5. If this is not enough, new bot teams are created for the purpose of the Cup only

Week

National Cup

Challenger Cup(Emerald)

Challenger Cup(Ruby)

Challenger Cup(Sapphire)

Consolation Cup

Teams

Teams

Teams

Teams

Teams

1

16384

2

8192

8192

3

4096

4096

4096

4096

4

2048

2048

2048

2048

4096

5

1024

1024

1024

2048

2048

6

512

512

1024

1024

1024

7

256

512

512

512

512

8

128

256

256

256

256

9

64

128

128

128

128

10

32

64

64

64

64

11

16

32

32

32

32

12

8

16

16

16

16

13

4

8

8

8

8

14

2

4

4

4

4

15

-

2

2

2

2

16

-

-

-

-

-

Losing teams in round one and six of the National Cup will move on to the the Emerald Challenger Cup.

Losing teams in round two and five of the National Cup will move on to the Ruby Challenger Cup.

Losing teams in round three and four of the National Cup will move on to the Sapphire Challenger Cup.

Losing teams from the first rounds of both the Emerald and Ruby Challenger Cups will move on to the Consolation Cup.

Team effects

One important aspect of the Cups is the tactical options that they present. Staying in the Cup for a long time gives you more competitive games, which also means more opportunities to increase confidence and team spirit in preparation for the league. Cup games also give your players more experience, which along with higher ticket sales makes a long cup run even more valuable. However, not all Cups will impact your team in the same way.

Cards and injuries are in full effect in all the cups. Cards picked up in cup games count the same as cards in league games for suspensions and yellow card accumulation.

Team spirit, confidence, fan mood: Only National Cup and Divisional Cup games will have an effect on these values. Matches played in any other cup behave like a friendly when it comes to the impact on future team spirit, confidence, and fan mood.

Experience: The National Cup and Divisional Cup give players twice as much experience as a league game. Challenger and Consolation Cup matches give your players half the experience they would get from a league game.

Cup income

Ticket sales are an important benefit from a successful Cup run. The longer you progress in any Cup, the more spectators will come and thus more revenue will be generated. The National Cup and the Divisional Cups are considerably more attractive to the fans than their corresponding Challenger and Consolation Cups. While a National or Divisional Cup game (at least in later rounds) can attract similar attendance to a league match, the other cups are more comparable to friendlies when it comes to attendance.
The National Challenger Cup will attract three times as many spectators as an international friendly between the two teams would. The National Consolation Cup will attract twice as many spectators as an international friendly between the two teams would. The Divisional Challenger Cup will also attract twice as many fans and the Divisional Consolation Cup will attract 50% more spectators than what an international friendly between the two teams would.

The home side gets 2/3 of the crowd revenue and the away side gets 1/3. In the last six rounds the teams split the revenue 50/50. In general, fans aren't very interested in the first couple of rounds of the cup, but their interest will increase as it goes on. Additionally, the fans of a lower division team will want to see a game against a higher division side, but the reverse is not true. The best teams in the cup also get some prize money as shown in the table below. There is no top scorer award for the cup.